Penticton

Ventures in wine

Beautiful weather, spectacular scenery mixed with an up-and-coming industry are the makings of a story waiting to be told.

Composer by trade, Kenton Gilchirst is preparing to tell that story through his first production venture, a tv series titled ‘Adventures in Wine Country’, a tale of grape to glass in the Okanagan.

“We have picked three wineries to kind of be the lenses for telling that story,” says Gilchrist as he stands at the edge of the Black Swift vineyard. “At Black Swift they are building a brand new facility here and we thought that would be interesting to watch how that happens through the course of the season.”

Photo: Contributed

Gilchrist came to the Okanagan from Vancouver and was overwhelmed with the interesting and perplexing stories in the wine industry.

“It is a story that needs to be told of the Okanagan sort of coming into its own in the last couple of years, just as a prime, not just wine making region but a prime place to visit if you are looking to do wine tours,” explains Gilchrist. “A lot of people are calling it the new Napa. There is a big story on USA Today, right now, they are doing a ranking on their website of the best wine regions in the world and the Okanagan is leading by quite a long shot at the moment, so it is time the story be told.”

The series won’t be produced as a documentary, but instead a lifestyle series based on the entire wine industry in the Okanagan.

Taking the three stories from three different wineries, Gilchrist hopes these tales will help to support each other throughout the series.

“We have Covert Farms, down in Oliver, where we look a lot at food pairings and contrast viticulture and agriculture down there,” he explains. “We have Painted Rock in Penticton, a fairly new facility, a big push for quality there and then we have Black Swift building a new facility, a bit of a different business model in a suburban area.”

Telus offered Gilchrist a broadcast promise as well as funding to get the series started, but the project is in need of more investments which is why this new Okanagan resident has begun a Kickstarter campaign.

“Venturesinwine.TV is the website, any interest support, comments, suggestions, we welcome it all. We are looking to do this long term.”

Ventures in Wine Country should be on Telus 'On Demand' by the end of the summer with the hopes of the program appearing on more lifestyle channels in the future.

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